A little game for him and Thea. Creep up on the girlfriend who had drugged him, stolen his technology and then locked him away for all that time – surprise! The shock she’d get, how she’d clutch melodramatically at her chest, but then she’d smile when she saw who it was. They’d laugh together, oh how they’d laugh …

Shuffle, shuffle.

There was a spray of blood on his T-shirt and deeper-coloured blotches on his pyjama bottoms. A biology lesson from a long time ago resurfaced in Thea’s mind: darker coloured blood comes from veins, not from arteries. He smiled and there was blood on his chin.

How had he got free?

In his hand he held a wooden chair leg, weighting it on his shoulder as if it was a baseball bat. The tip of it was matted with something Thea did not want to think about.

Shuffle, shuffle.

Something about Thea’s frozen expression must have alerted Delores who whirled around, one hand indeed going to her chest, just as Thea had imagined.

Surprise!

As if this was a mime exercise at school, they all held their positions. Thea could see Delores’s hand moving carefully over the smooth surface of her desk, searching for something. Did she have a panic button? Even if she did, was there anyone left in the Centre to panic?

Moses followed the direction of Thea’s gaze and darted forward so quickly it took Delores by surprise, not giving her enough time to move her hand and avoid the chair leg Moses smashed into her fingers. Delores’s legs gave way as the pain flooded through her, her mouth an open O of shock and agony, her crushed hand still trembling on the desk as she crouched down on the floor, her forehead resting on the edge of her desk.

Thea nearly screamed with her, springing out of her chair and backing away, hands outstretched as if that could protect her.

‘Max, I don’t want to hurt you, I really don’t, but it’s been pretty difficult finding you.’ Moses wiped his forehead and shot sudden glances about the room as if someone might jump out on him. ‘We need to talk.’

He took a slim tablet out of his pocket and swiped at it with his thumb, scrolling through options, his other hand still gripping the chair leg.

‘You don’t have many people left here, Max. There was a lot of stuff left unattended. Like this. Nifty little thing. Now let me see …’

He scrolled through a couple more times and then stopped.

‘Ah, yes. There we go.’

The office door closed smoothly.

‘No interruptions. Do you know?’ he said conversationally. ‘I feel better than I’ve felt for … ooh … ages. Less fuzz up here.’

He tapped the side of his head with a grisly finger.

‘Not being sedated helps, I guess, doesn’t it?’